We can be like Piers Morgan on CNN and yell at one another about gun control or we can learn and figure out this conundrum together.

After sitting down in December with the family of one of the victims in Orange County's worst mass killing, I visit a shooting range deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Like a majority of Americans after the deaths in Newtown, Conn., I want change. But the more I learn, the more difficult it becomes to figure out exactly what that change should be.

Before I can say, "one Mississippi," I squeeze off three rounds from a .45-caliber, semi-automatic pistol. Three nearly half-inch holes instantly appear in the cardboard torso of a "bad guy."

Thirty-two people – the largest class ever taught by NRA board member and Placentia resident TJ Johnston – shoot or wait to shoot. They are about evenly divided between men and women, and include an auto mechanic, a computer expert, a lawyer, a doctor.

As my bullets kick up puffs of dirt in the rock- and chaparral-covered rise behind the targets, gunfire echoes throughout Burro Canyon Shooting Park. Like the diverse crowd, the nonstop noise reflects the complexity of our nation's debate over gun control.

On the range next to us, there is the unmistakable sound of automatic weapons. An expert tells me one gun is a .223, otherwise known as an AR-15. Yes, that's the gun used in several mass shootings and on President Obama's list to ban.

Unlike the semi-automatic weapon used in Newtown, this automatic fires 13 rounds a second. You can't legally buy it in California, but under certain conditions you can own and shoot one, and that stuns me.

As I load a gun magazine for R. Claire Friend, a Newport Beach psychiatrist, Friend tells me the gun debate isn't about guns, "It's about liberty."

•••

It's 7 a.m. on a recent Saturday – days before a former police officer is suspected of killing a couple in Irvine and shooting at several officers, wounding two and killing one.

There is standing room only at Johnston's AllSafe Defense Systems class in Orange. He asks the students to say why they're here – and why now.

Nearly all talk about protection. "I have a wife and two daughters and no defense in the house."

Volunteer Instructor Chris Claassen points at Josh Trinh's, 37, of Irvine, shooting group as they move to the targets during TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
An unloaded .45 caliber Colt M1911 pistol waits to be introduced to the shooting line during TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. Participants can try both revolvers and semiautomatics, in a wide variety of calibers, from .22 to the big .44 Magnum. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Wendy Velazquez or Orange loads her magazines while wearing a Woodstock concert t-shirt at TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Returning student Eric Velazquez of Orange fires his own .45 caliber Colt M1911 Commander pistol during TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Along with earplugs, many returning women shooters don jewelry reflecting their passion for shooting at TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Volunteer shooting instructors watch as Orange County Register columnist David Whiting is tested during the high-pressure pie tin exercise at TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class shooting class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Pie tins are pierced from the pistol work of four students from TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. The pie tin exercise introduces the student to shooting under pressure as Johnston sounds a horn and counts off five seconds. The student has two 5-round magazines and two five-second chances to fill the tin with holes. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
After shooting at pie tins, Tien Shen of Tustin, left, and Mike Kellogg of Diamond Bar study their skill during TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Volunteer instructor Natasha Kerllenevitch of West Los Angeles wears an ammunition pendant she made with a crystal bead as the bullet. Kerllenevitch is a returning volunteer, helping students with their shooting skills at TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
TJ Johnston explains the law and self defense in your home as part of the classroom instruction phase of his AllSafe Basic Handgun Course in Orange. The orientation session concludes with a lengthy discussion of the laws governing firearms, and how they effect your ability to use a firearm for self defense. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
TJ Johnston helps Allyson Ascher, 25, of Tustin with her technique during his AllSafe Basic Handgun Class at Burro Canyon Range in Azusa. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Josh Trinh, 37, of Irvine, clockwise from foreground, volunteer instructor Bill Anderson of Fountain Valley, Sergio Magana of Garden Grove and Melinda Fraser of Orange watch as students fire at cardboard torsos during TJ Johnston's AllSafe Basic Handgun Class shooting class. KEN STEINHARDT, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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